El Gaffney

Comment Victoriously

It’s hard to get people to comment. I usually consider a post a big success if I get two (since, of course, I can respond to each and bump it up to 4!). I know some of my fellow Gen GuY bloggers agree.
Last week, a very well-respected (especially in the planning world), -liked (he once received hundreds of comments after writing a heart-felt post about blogging), and -read (actually that’s an assumption; more appropriately would be “oft-read” on his blog and in Campaign magazine) guy named Russell Davies held a contest. The prize a copy of Mark Penn’s Microtrends dictated the challenge: Come up with your own microtrend(s) and leave them in the comments to be voted on by Jeremy from Penguin. (I linked to the Penguin site for the book rather than Amazon to show love.) I’m happy to announce I was one of the winners.

My favorite happened to come from John Dodds, another planner I have been inspired by. It was: “The Unwell – people going online, erroneously diagnosing themselves with worst case scenarios on the basis of symptoms and no knowledge.” So true. I submitted three and was talking with a few friends on Saturday night about them, and we all seemed to have a different opinion about which we liked most/least. It got a little heated with the Sake bombs flowing, so I thought I’d put it up to vote. (Plus, I like using Vizu polls as some of you know from the Flu Shot one I created – which probably supports The Unwell.)

Here are the descriptions:
Playground Papa’s – think the prom king from little children (movie) or joe from brothers and sisters (tv). Men who embrace being the primary caretaker and man of the house-hold chores but also make sure they stay manly. (This does not require any infidelity though the ex’s suggest it.) Also known as the triple P’s (add Progressive) and/or Soccer Dads.

Diversuburbanites – You won’t find diversity in major cities anymore, you’ll have to go out to the surrounding suburbs. And that’s what many recent grads and young families are going to do to have a more rich and multi-cultural life.

Thru-breds – People who grew up IMing, texting, blogging, etc. but now fail to use proper grammatical English in the traditional world. This slang/shorthand is not just used in emails but also infiltrates presentations, legal documents, and love letters.

I don’t know how much crossover there is between our blogs. But I’m assuming that only a handful of people that come here daily also read him regularly. Even if he’s got me totally covered, you may have not read his contest in time or you may not have had the time to consider or you may have felt you had to say something intelligent in his comment box. Rest assured—and I’m sure most of you know—you don’t have to feel that sort of pressure here. (I’m a couple days away from posting my next Inbox of Immaturity, which amongst other things will have an officer’s awkward pat down of a suspicious character on the street.)

So, if you have some microtrends to add to the mix, I’d love to hear them.

Tags: blogging, books, Friends, trends